My Cat Valentine
by DashieQuinn
Summary: After Jade has a messy breakup with Beck, she discovers that her feelings for Cat may not be as platonic as she once thought. Summaries are hard. Cade romance with fluff and angst. Multiple chapters. Rated M for language and adult content in future chapters.
1. The Picture

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious, blah blah blah purely for entertainment blah.**

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I watched her play with her food from across the table. She had wedged two fries under her top lip and was doing an over-exaggerated impression of The Count from Sesame Street. I smiled absent-mindedly as I studied the way her red velvet hair bounced and glistened in the afternoon sun. She should have looked ridiculous with those french fries sticking out of her mouth, and yet she still managed to look breath-takingly beautiful. As always. That was kind of Cat's thing – being incredibly adorable in everything she does. I swear that girl could shave her head and exclusively wear potato sacks and still look amazing.

"Jade?"

I whipped my head to the left, hoping that nobody had noticed how much attention I was paying to Cat. It was Tori who had spoken. She was holding her PearPhone out to me with a concerned expression on her face.

"What do you want, Vega?" I sneered. I honestly couldn't stand the girl. There wasn't one particular reason for my hatred towards her; she just rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was her optimistic and do-good attitude, or the fact that she thinks that bursting out into song is the answer to everything.

Oh yeah, or maybe it was because she kissed my boyfriend on the first day I met her.

Although I have to give her credit, she never stopped trying to be a friend to me no matter what I threw at her – both literally and figuratively speaking.

"You might want to take a look at this." She spoke very carefully, and I noticed that her eyes were flickering around the table, looking anywhere but at me. A small chorus of ringtones filled the air as each of my friends' phones alerted them of a new Slap update. I turned my attention to the rest of the table and noticed that everyone was alternating between looking at their PearPhones and eyeing me nervously. Even Cat had taken the fries out of her mouth and was watching me sympathetically.

"Whatever." I tried to be offhand as I took the phone from Tori. I wasn't about to let her know how scared and confused I was about what she wanted to show me. I let out a sigh, trying to look disinterested as I lifted the screen to my face. This façade didn't last for long though, as nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on that PearPhone screen.

I must have audibly screamed because the whole group flinched simultaneously and Cat fell off her chair, squealing.

On the phone, fullscreen and in glorious HD, was Beck and Trina.

Beck and Trina _kissing_.

And not just saying-goodbye-to-your-Auntie kissing. Full on hands-down-pants-groping-under-shirts kissing.

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**A/N: So here we are, my first fanfiction. If fanfiction was a pool, I'd be dipping my toes into the water tentatively and debating whether to jump in or not.**

**Please review, I'm planning to make this multiple chapters long, this is just a short test chapter. I also wrote this at 1 in the morning, so I'm sorry if it's terrible.**

**Oh and don't be fooled by the Bade and Beck/Trina, the Cade will come. But only if you review. Your reviews are like kindling to the fire of creativity that lives inside me.**

**Ok I'll stop now. Sorry.**


	2. The Janitor's Closet

**Disclaimer: Victorious ≠ my property.**

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"Who. Posted. This?" I growled at Tori while still keeping my eyes fixated on the nauseating image in front of me.

"S-Sinjin." She managed to stammer out.

I grimaced. Of course it was Sinjin. That stupid little creep had developed some sort of freakish obsession with me in 7th grade and he hasn't left me alone since. My eyes travelled to the caption underneath the picture.

"_Look who I just found in the janitor's closet! Maybe now a certain Jade West will finally realize that her wonderful boyfriend isn't so perfect after all."_

The janitor's closet? I glanced at the picture again, and sure enough I could see the borders of the grimy closet window at the edges of the image. The picture had only just been uploaded less than five minutes ago, and Sinjin had snapped it without opening the door and disturbing them. That could only mean…

No way.

It might _still be happening._

"Um, Jade? Please just sit d-down. You're s-scaring me." I flinched slightly as I heard Cat stuttering from my right. I hadn't noticed the deafening silence until Cat broke it with her heartbreakingly distressed plea.

Sit down? For the first time since I set my eyes on the picture, I tore my gaze away and looked at my surroundings. Sure enough, my friends were all cowering away from me at the opposite end of the table. I glanced behind me to find that my chair had been kicked backwards quite some distance, and I suddenly became aware of eyes boring into me from every angle.

Lifting my head up, I found myself looking into the eyes of every single person in the entire school lunch area. Some faces were curious and inquisitive, others white with pure terror. All were gaping at me in shock. Whatever scene it was that my body had made while my mind was occupied with anger and grief, it was not a very pleasant one.

I spun around to shoot one more glance at my friends before storming off towards the entrance to the school, making sure to kick my overturned chair in the process.

* * *

I crashed through the school's doors with a thousand questions running through my mind.

_Why is Beck kissing other girls?_

_Was this the only time?_

_Am I not good enough for him?_

_Does he even love me?_

_Why __**Trina**__?_

I shook my head in an attempt to focus as I approached the janitor's closet door, my heart threatening to shatter my ribs with its relentless throbbing that grew in anticipation with every step I took. I rubbed my sweaty palms on my jeans and sucked in a shaky breath. I was almost at the door.

I finally released my breath as I reached the solid oak rectangle that could possibly have been hiding my first love cheating on me with my worst enemy's repulsive sister.

I seriously contemplated turning away and running, but that isn't how Jade West works.

Jade West is _not _a coward.

I steeled myself before kicking the door open as brutally as possible with my chunky, studded boot. In retrospect I guess I could have just looked through the window, but subtlety isn't really my thing.

The sight that lay before me almost forced my lunch back out of my stomach. The 10 minutes between Sinjin taking the picture and me arriving at the closet must have been more than enough time for the scene to progress from over the clothes groping to full on unadulterated _sex_. Beck and Trina were so engrossed in each other that they didn't even notice me at first, but eventually two heads looked up from the tangled mess of sweaty naked bodies and gawked at me, horrified. I could actually feel the anger viciously bubbling up inside of me, but I managed to utter one coherent sentence before descending into a blind rage.

"What in the everloving _fuck_ is going on here?"

* * *

Trina nursed her black eye on the opposite side of the lunch table to me as I glared at her, desperately wishing for my killing-with-looks ability to suddenly bloom. It had taken an hour for my friends to calm me down enough for me to stop assaulting Trina and that adulterous _swine _I once called my boyfriend. Tori, Robbie, André and Cat had literally dragged me kicking and screaming back outside to our lunch table.

Cat was sitting next to me, gripping my wrists to try to prevent me from attempting to murder Trina again. The group had assigned Cat to Jade-watching duty because they knew she was the only person who I wouldn't dream of hurting. She was too innocent, too sweet and naïve to cause any harm to. Hurting Cat was like kicking a kitten – it just wasn't _right_.

I moved my arm in an attempt to scratch my nose and Cat suddenly gripping harder, pulling my arms towards her in a slight panic. Goosebumps ran up my arms from where her skin touched mine.

"Cat, chill. I just want to scratch my nose. Now please let go of my goddamn arm." I rolled my eyes at the tiny redhead.

"Nuh-uh Jade. I'm afraid I'm not allowed to do that." She giggled. "What if you try to hurt someone again, huh? Tori says you're unstable."

I growled. _As soon as Tori gets back I'll show her just how unstable I can get._

"Please, Cat. I just seriously need to scratch my nose."

"Then I'll just scratch it for you!"

Before I could stop her, Cat had her free hand on my face, dragging her brightly coloured nails over my nose. I could feel my cheeks grow inexplicably hotter as she violated my personal space. This was something that Cat could never quite grasp the idea of. She didn't understand why people couldn't always be as close as possible – wanting space was an alien concept to her.

"Um, thanks Cat." I mumbled, blushing furiously. _What's up with me today?_

"You're welcome!" She beamed back at me, oblivious to my flustered state.

I dragged my eyes away from her and my breath caught in my throat as I noticed Tori walking towards me with Beck by her side. I guess she had decided that I was "stable" enough to see him again.

My blood boiled at the sight of him. I ran my eyes over his boyish features and his fluffy brown hair, all the things that I used to love about him now repulsed me. I scowled at him as he approached me, but I could feel tears pricking my eyes. No matter how much I hated him, the fact that someone could just discard me like that and set me aside because they wanted someone else more, now _that _hurt.

Beck arrived at the table, looking sombre and melancholy. Good. At least he was making an effort to look like he cared.

"Hi, Jade."

"Hi, Beck."

At that moment in time, I wanted nothing more than to throttle that boy until he stopped breathing.

But that could wait until later.

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**A/N: Sorry If I'm taking it too slow, I'm trying not to rush into anything. I need Jade and Cat to seem natural, not forced. Also are these chapters too short? I'm trying to release one every day so I'm making them shorter than they would be if I took longer breaks. And you know, I'm a strong believer in quality over quantity.**

**Oh and just to clarify, I'm British so I'm sorry if I spell words in the British way or use British slang that I didn't realise wasn't universally understood. Let me know. I'm trying my best to sound American...y'all.**

**Anyway, throw your review kindling at me. How about we build a bonfire this time? **


	3. The Break Up

**Disclaimer: If I owned Victorious, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.**

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"Jade, I can honestly explain everything if you please just-"

"No." I responded flatly, releasing myself from Cat's grip to stand up and face him. Beck simply continued to look at me miserably, knowing that there was no way in hell he could talk his way out of this. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from trying.

"_Please_ Jade-"

"No."

"Jade I-"

"No."

"Oh God _Jade_-"

"NO!"

Beck leaped backwards, whimpering. He was actually crying by this point. Acting the victim once again, except I wasn't going to let it happen this time. Everyone thought that Beck was perfect, that our fights were always _my _fault, never his. They didn't know Beck like I did. They'd never had the misfortune of seeing this side of him; the dishonest, selfish, and incompetent coward that hid within the body of a level-headed gentleman.

"Not this time." I growled at him. "I've given you more than enough chances."

"What…what are you talking about?" He was playing dumb. Or maybe he had actually forgotten every bad thing he'd ever done. Maybe that's how he kept up his "good guy" image - by making himself believe he was perfect in an effort to convince everyone else to believe the same.

"You kissed Tori within an hour of meeting her, you had a fling with some random blonde tramp in Florida over spring break last year, and you even tried to hook up with Cat _last month_. Luckily, she had the common decency to realise that cheating is _wrong._" Cat blushed noticeably red at the mention of Beck's advances towards her. She hadn't quite gotten over that.

"Well you're not exactly perfect either!" Beck bit his lip in an effort to stay calm.

"Oh, pray tell." I sneered.

Beck swallowed before sighing resignedly.

"You're mean, you fight, you swear too much, you're rude to people, you hate too many things, you have a strange and sometimes worrying obsession with scissors, you break things, you're far too emotional, and-" Beck stopped himself, puffing out his cheeks in exasperation.

"And _what, _Beck?"

He looked down at the floor guiltily.

"Jade, we've been dating for two years and we still haven't had sex."

My mouth dropped open and I stared at him, speechless. Was he really doing this? Blurting out _very _personal details of our relationship in front of all of our friends? In front of _Cat_? I looked to her, curious as to how she was reacting to all of this. She was staring wide-eyed at Beck, flicking her eyes between the two of us. She looked completely stunned at the mention of sex; it wasn't something she was exactly experienced in the field of.

"So that's why you cheated on me with Trina? Because I won't have _sex_ with you?" I was almost screaming by this point, past the point of caring.

"I have needs. I love you, but we can't have a healthy relationship if you don't satisfy them. How am I supposed to know that you really love me if you refuse to touch me?"

I couldn't believe what he was saying. All this time I thought he might have been different from the rest, that he might have actually cared about me. No, he was just another hormonal teenage boy, unable to think with his brain without his penis being satisfied.

"I'm _so _sorry Jade," Beck blubbed. "I thought that Trina could satisfy me in ways that you never could, but… I-I realise it was a mistake now. One _big _mistake that I deserve every punishment in the world for. All I ask is please, _please_ don't leave me. I love you so much." He was lying through his teeth. Convincingly, too. Those sobs sounded very realistic, and he seemed to actually believe that there was a chance I might stay with him after what he'd done.

Remembering that Trina was still there, I turned to her to see her reaction. My jaw dropped as I saw that she was playing on her PearPhone without a care in the world.

"TRINA!" I shouted, causing her to jump out of her skin and drop her phone.

"Jade! You made me drop my brand new PearPhone!" She whined indignantly. Her priorities were insanely out of order.

"Don't you even _care _that Beck used you for sex?" I asked her.

"Of course not!" She looked at me, puzzled. "What else would he use me for?"

With that, Trina picked up her phone and sauntered off, still sporting the black eye that I'd given her.

I shook my head, trying to forget about Tori's delusional sister as I returned my gaze to Beck.

"I can't do this anymore." I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger.

"C-can't do what?" Beck was still crying.

"Us. We're over. Done. Finished."

"B-but…but we're Beck and Jade!"

"No. You're Beck, and I'm Jade." I breathed out shakily before uttering the words that would change everything.

"_We're _nothing."

* * *

I sat on my bed with my knees drawn up to my chest. My bedroom was the one place I turned to whenever I was about to break down. I had a sort of recurring black theme going on, making my room perfect as it habitually reflected my mood.

It had been a week since Beck and I had broken up, and I still didn't feel anything.

I had cried on the first day, mostly out of anger and also because I just felt…_dirty_. Used. Beck had tossed me out like trash as soon as someone more willing to "satisfy his needs" came along. I felt utterly unwanted. Again. I had never believed that anyone could love me until Beck came along, and now he was completely invalidating any self-confidence he had helped me to build up over the two years we had been dating for.

_Two years…_

I should have been a wreck after having a messy break up with my boyfriend of two years. My so-called "first love". So why wasn't I feeling anything? Why did I feel…relieved? I loved him, didn't I? I must have, I remembered saying it enough times. He was handsome, talented and an amazing boyfriend for the most part, why wouldn't I have loved him?

I shook my head to clear any doubt from my mind. _Of course I loved him; this is Beck we're talking about. People rarely mention your names individually from each other._

I was startled out of my brooding by my phone noisily vibrating on my bedside table. I lifted it up to my face and the corners of my mouth turned up involuntarily as I noticed who it was from.

**How r u doing? You looked sad in school today :/**

**-Cat**

She was right, I was sad. Beck was now in an open relationship with none other than _Trina. _It made me sick that he would settle for her so quickly, and made me worry about whether he was just settling for me when we first started dating.

**I'm fine. Beck makes me sick.**

**-Jade**

Cat replied back within seconds.

**Jade! U r NOT allowed to be sad about him. He's a gankbag!**

**-Cat**

I couldn't help but smile at Cat's incredibly family friendly attempt at cursing. The way she refused to swear was adorable. My phone vibrated in my hand again before I had a chance to reply.

**Tell u what, we'll have a sleepover tonight at my place. I bet I can make u feel better! ;)**

**-Cat**

My eyes widened at the last sentence and Cat's (likely unintentionally) inappropriate use of a winking face. I stopped myself from speculating about any hidden ulterior meanings. _This is Cat we're talking about. Cat who likes rainbows and stuffed animals. Cat who blushes at the word "butt". Besides, she uses a winking face for everything. _

I didn't have to think for long before replying.

**Sounds good. I'll be there at 8.**

**-Jade**

Company would be good, I seriously needed to get out of my house.

Besides, the concept of sleeping in the same room as Cat was giving me very confusing butterflies.

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**A/N: I would have made this longer, but I didn't want to spend any more time on Beck and I'm falling asleep at my computer. (****For the record, I don't hate Beck. Remember this is written from Jade's POV after she catches him cheating on her, she's the one that hates him.)**

**Cade is in sight! A sleepover is _always _a good sign.**

**I'd love some feedback and suggestions for next chapter, I'm not sure how far I'm going to go with Cat and Jade's relationship this early on yet.**

**So come on, let's throw some more review kindling on my creativity fire.**


	4. The Sleepover

**Disclaimer: Victorious is not one of the things that I own.**

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I stood outside her door, my finger hovering over the doorbell. I sighed shakily. This was getting ridiculous; I'd been over Cat's house a hundred times. Why was I so nervous?

I steeled myself and was about to let my finger drop onto the doorbell when the door flew open with a crash.

"JADE!" Cat sang excitedly, throwing her arms into the air and running towards me for a hug.

I stiffened for a moment as the tiny redhead wrapped her arms around me. I've never been one for physical affection, but Cat never cared. She was the only person besides Beck who ever dared to touch me without invitation.

I didn't mind.

"Hey, Cat." I smiled, gently pushing her away from me. I ran my eyes down her petite body and noticed that she was already in her pajamas. They were bright pink, of course. Instead of normal length pajama pants she wore a pair of short shorts, and her top was pretty low cut for something she was planning on sleeping in.

"Come on, Jade. Let's go upstairs!" Cat grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the door, kicking it shut behind her. She led me upstairs to her bedroom, where I dumped my bag on her pink bed. Her whole room was intoxicatingly _girly_; everything was pink and there was a ridiculous amount of cuddly toys covering each of her shelves and her bed. She even had a giant "C" for "Cat" stuck onto her wall. Anyone who didn't know her would swear that the room belonged to an 8 year old child, not a 16 year old girl.

I turned to Cat and noticed that she was looking at me expectantly.

"What?" I questioned her.

"Aren't you going to get changed into your pajamas?" She looked puzzled.

"I don't wear pajamas."

"Huh." She was confused now. "Then what do you wear to go to sleep in?"

"Nothing." I smirked.

"Oh." Cat was blushing furiously, fiddling with her hands. "You can borrow some of my pajamas if you want."

"No thanks, they'd probably be too small anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She stepped backwards, her eyes wide and accusing.

"Nothing, Cat." I sighed. The girl took everything way too personally. She thought every passing comment was some sort of personal attack against her, and she acted accordingly.

"Well okay then." Cat was beaming at me now, any offense she had taken from my comment was forgotten. "Hey, wanna go watch a movie?"

"Sure." I couldn't stop myself from smiling as Cat took my hand and led me downstairs to her TV room. I loved the way she could change moods in an instant like that, it made her interesting; different from everyone else. It was one of the reasons that I chose her as my best friend. I snapped out of my train of thought as I suddenly noticed how quiet the house was.

"Hey Cat, where are your parents?" I asked her.

"They're having an anniversary weekend in some holiday resort."

"What about your brother?"

"Hospital."

"Oh." I didn't even bother asking how her wackjob brother had landed himself in hospital again. He practically lived there. Besides, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. "So we've got the house to ourselves?"

"Uh-huh." Cat smiled. My heart rate quickened. I was spending a whole night alone in a house with Cat. Just me and Cat. Alone. All night. Why did that make my palms sweat and my hands shake? It was just Cat; my best friend, and a girl above all else. Girls weren't supposed to make me this nervous. I swallowed, suddenly afraid that she could hear my thundering heart.

"What film do you want to watch?" Cat asked me as we reached her DVD cabinet in the TV room.

"Um, you choose." I settled onto the couch, immediately regretting my decision as I remembered that Cat's taste in entertainment was on par with that of a six year old. My fears were realized as she walked towards me with a "The Little Mermaid" DVD clasped in outstretched arms.

"How about this?" She grinned.

"Don't you think it's a little bit…" I trailed off as Cat's smile fell, a look of disappointment replacing her hopeful expression.

"It's fine." I sighed.

"Yay!" Cat squealed, skipping over to the TV and sliding the disk into the DVD player. I frowned slightly as I realized that I'd just agreed to sit through an hour and a half of Disney singing and dancing just because Cat had made puppy dog eyes at me. I seriously needed to reassess my priorities.

Cat bounced onto the couch beside me, giggling.

"This is going to be so _fun_!" She sat uncomfortably close to me, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Yeah." I half-heartedly agreed with her. I hated Disney movies, but for some reason I didn't mind watching this one with Cat anywhere near as much as I usually would. Maybe I was going crazy. Or maybe I was just going soft.

Either way, I accepted my fate and relaxed back into the couch, readying myself for 90 minutes of cheery musical torture.

* * *

Halfway into the film, I noticed that Cat was spending less time watching the movie and more time watching _me._ I kept my eyes fixated on the screen, watching the colourful cartoon figures prance around, singing. I smiled as I suddenly noticed how similar the mermaid looked to Cat. They had the same red hair, same pretty face, same red lips…

"Hey Cat, you look like Ariel." I chuckled.

"Mhmm." She replied. I looked over to her and realized that she was still staring at me, in her own little world. Only she wasn't staring at my eyes, she was staring at my lips intently with a strange, dreamy expression on her face.

My heart skipped a beat and I whipped my head back around to look at the screen. What was she doing? What was so damn interesting about my mouth that meant she couldn't look away from it?

"Cat?" I said abruptly. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Oh!" She snapped her head back to look at the screen. Even in the dark I could see that she was blushing. "Sorry."

I smiled at her. She was adorable when she got embarrassed.

* * *

By the time the film was over, Cat had snuggled in close to me, her head resting on my shoulder and my arm draped around her back. She looked up to me as the credits started rolling.

"Did you enjoy that?" She giggled.

"It was… different." I had spent the whole movie panicking about whether Cat could hear my thumping heartbeat and puzzling over why my stomach felt like it was packed with butterflies. My heart fluttered as I looked down at her. She truly was beautiful. The most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, actually. She smiled, bringing out the adorable little dimple in her left cheek. I ran my eyes over her and admired the way her red velvet hair fell lightly over her shoulders, outlining the shape of her body.

I noticed her smile falter as her gaze fell from my eyes to my lips. There it was again, that strange, almost smoldering expression. I couldn't help but let my eyes fall to her lips too, noticing that they were slightly parted. My mind clouded over, I was past the point of thinking.

My heart almost stopped as her head slowly started to move towards mine, and I couldn't stop myself from edging towards her too. I breathed shakily, watching Cat's mouth with curiosity.

Without warning, Cat closed the gap, crashing her lips into mine. Time stopped for a moment and I could feel a pulse of electricity running through my body in the few seconds that our lips were pressed against each other. I closed my eyes, savouring the unexpected moment. My brain function returned as I suddenly realized what was happening, causing me to push her away in shock.

"Cat what the _fuck?" _She recoiled as I questioned her. Her eyes widened and her hand flew up to her open mouth.

"Oh my God, I'm _so_ sorry. I'm not…I mean I don't..." Cat looked up at me and her expression hardened. "I don't like you like that."

"Could have fooled me." I growled.

"Hey! You k-kissed me back." She was nervous now, stuttering.

"Yeah well, I'm not a lesbian. Okay? So don't get any ideas."

"Neither am I!" Cat shot back indignantly.

"Then why did you kiss me?"

"I…I don't know." She was looking at the floor, and I noticed that she was on the verge of tears. I sighed, too tired to deal with a crying Cat.

"Look, can we just forget about this for now and go to bed?" I put my hand on her shoulder but she flinched back from me, stumbling backwards. She merely nodded in reply before turning away from me and walking up the stairs with her arms folded.

"You can sleep on the couch." She called down shakily. I heard her bedroom door slam behind her.

I breathed out slowly, trying to stay calm. I shut down any thoughts of the night's events before collapsing onto the couch.

_I'll deal with it in the morning._

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry it's been so long, I have exams right now so that probably means I might not be posting the next chapter for another week or so. I will return to posting regularly after that though, you have my word!**

**Sorry if this chapter's no good, it's actually 3 am right now. And sorry if it's too short. **

**Basically I apologise for everything, but hopefully this is good enough to make up for me being incompetent at updating my stories on time!**

**Also if this gets taken down for whatever reason, go to my Tumblr, and I'll post there about what I'm going to do next.**

**Please review! They're the only things that keep me writing this when I should be revising for my exams.**


	5. The Acting Scene

**Disclaimer: Victorious isn't mine. Obviously.**

* * *

The first thing I felt when I woke up was agonising pain in my back. I groaned, attempting to stretch my arms over my shoulders and succeeding in falling off of the couch with a loud thump.

"Fuck." I croaked groggily. My whole body was aching from spending the night sleeping on a couch. I wouldn't be in so much pain if I had just shared Cat's bed like I usually did.

Cat.

Memories from the previous night flooded back into my head. Cat's strange behaviour, the kiss, Cat crying and walking away. I rolled on to my back and covered my face with my hands.

"Fuck." Cat looked really upset last night, and knowing her she had probably spent the rest of the night crying. I groaned as I realised that I would actually have to talk to her about last night. There was no way we could leave it like we did, and there was no way I was forgetting about it any time soon. At least Cat was probably still in bed, so I had little more time to gather my thoughts. I sat up and flicked my eyes around the room, looking for my phone. I located it on top of the fireplace and stood up, clutching my back and grimacing in pain as I retrieved it. My heart dropped as I read the time off of the tiny LCD screen.

"FUCK." 8:30, I was _so _late to school. Why hadn't Cat woken me up?

"CAT!" I screamed, running upstairs to find her. I burst into her bedroom, ready to rip into her for not waking me up on time, but the perky redhead was nowhere to be found. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion and walked back into the hallway.

"Cat?" My voice was softer this time, worried. I kicked the door to the bathroom open only to find another empty room. I was about to turn around and search the rest of the house when I noticed something stuck onto the mirror. I walked up to it and my suspicions were confirmed. A sticky note.

**Gone to school.**

**-Cat**

I growled in frustration, crumpling up the note before ripping it into tiny pieces and storming out of the bathroom.

_Today is not going to be a good day._

* * *

I burst through the front door and crashed into an empty building. It was strange to see Hollywood Arts when it was quiet. Since it was usually so loud and full of life, seeing it empty was…unsettling. I glanced at my watch and realised that I'd missed first period. Great. I pulled my timetable out of my bag and grimaced as I saw my second period class.

Sikowitz.

Looks like I'd be seeing Cat sooner rather than later.

I walked through the corridor with a feeling of dread building up in the pit of my gut, but I managed to maintain an air of confidence as I sauntered through the classroom door.

"Jade!" Sikowitz beamed at me, his balding head reflecting the fluorescent lighting. "How nice of you to join us!"

I shot him a glare before slumping into a seat as far away from Cat and Beck as possible.

"I would have been here earlier, but it seems that my _alarm clock_ decided to take a day off this morning." I smiled slightly as I noticed Cat shifting positions uncomfortably out of the corner of my eye.

"Hmm." Sikowitz nodded absent mindedly, returning to sipping his coconut. "Today's lesson is on improvisation, you will each be paired up and given a scenario which you will then interpret and improvise in front of the class…"

I glanced over at Cat and felt a pang of jealousy as I noticed her sitting unusually close to Robbie. I felt another, sharper pang as I spotted his skinny arm draped across her shoulders. Since when were Robbie and Cat close with each other? Cat didn't even _like _him. She told me she thought he was creepy and gross, but here she was, snuggling into him like a freaking limpet.

"Cat, Jade, you will be playing disgruntled lovers." Sikowitz's voice broke my train of thought. I whipped my focus back to him, my eyes wide with shock. "Jade, you have kissed another woman and Cat has just found out about it."

"Lovers?" Cat's voice cracked and a look of panic flashed across her face.

"Yes, little one. Lovers." Sikowitz motioned for us to step on the stage and we grudgingly obliged. This was the last thing I needed. I wanted to talk to Cat in private, not in front of our class through personas in a surprisingly relevant improv scenario.

"Begin." Sikowitz's voice boomed.

"How could you, Jack?" Cat whirled to face me, hurt showing on her face.

"Karen, it didn't mean _anything_, I swear." I pleaded, forcing a tear to trickle down my face.

"Stop _lying_, kisses always mean something." She looked me straight in the eye and I could see that she was welling up.

"She was the one who kissed me." I countered.

"You kissed back." She choked. She wasn't acting anymore.

"I was shocked, it was a reflex."

"No." Her expression hardened. "A reflex would be pushing her away, not pulling her in closer."

"I-I wasn't thinking straight, it was late, I was tired." I tried to ignore the fact that these weak excuses were the same ones that I had been repeating to myself in my head all morning.

"Ha." Cat scoffed at me. "You have feelings for her, we both know you do."

"No." I shook my head. She wasn't right. She couldn't be. She was messing with my head.

"Stop living in denial, Jack."

"_Fuck you."_ I could feel real tears threatening to spill over my eyelids. Sikowitz flinched

at my language, but he didn't interfere.

"Do you even love me?" Cat sobbed, stepping closer to me.

"I…" I looked up at her and my heart melted as I saw her hopeless expression. Tears glistened on her cheeks and her eyes pleaded with me. I was unsure how much was acting and how much was real.

"Of course I do." My voice grew softer, almost a whisper. Cat was dangerously close to me now, the tips of her shoes rubbing against mine.

"Then prove it." She whispered.

And with that, she grabbed my face with both of her hands and kissed me.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter's a little short because I wasn't actually planning on writing it yet, but I couldn't resist. I was going to write more but I decided to post this now instead of waiting until after my exams to finish it.**

**I think this chapter's a little angsty because I wrote the whole thing while listening to Rain by Brain Crain on repeat. Whoops.**

**Reviews mean the world to me. I'll let you in on a little secret: Every time someone reviews my story, I _dance._ Yep. You guys make me dance.**


	6. The Janitor's Closet: Redux

**Disclaimer: I would very much like to own Victorious, but you and I both know that I don't.**

* * *

I stiffened slightly before surrendering and relaxing into the kiss, pulling Cat closer to me as I felt a familiar rush of electricity flow through my body. My first instinct was to push her away, but I knew that I couldn't break character without arousing suspicious about the nature of our relationship. I had to convince my class that the whole scene was acting and nothing more.

After that I could work on convincing myself.

It was Cat who broke off the kiss. I watched her as she stepped back from me with her head bowed and her hands clasped in front of her, frowning slightly with tears glistening in her eyelashes. I couldn't stop myself from running my tongue over my lips to taste Cat's lip gloss before wiping it off with my sleeve.

Strawberry.

Without warning, Cat returned back to her usual bubbly self as she turned around to beam at the class, who were now silently staring at us in shock. Nobody said a word for what felt like forever, but then a slow clapping broke the silence.

"Now _that._" Sikowitz grinned, his eyes sparkling, "_That_ is what you call dedication to a role."

The whole class erupted into raucous applause, apparently impressed by our little "acting" exercise. Sikowitz was laughing and shouting "Bravo" intermittently. I smiled weakly and looked over to Cat. She was beaming ecstatically, but her eyes were still wet with tears. She turned to me and our eyes met for a second before we both turned away as quickly as humanly possible.

I walked off of the stage brusquely, trying to ignore my thundering heart as I settled back into my seat.

* * *

By the time class ended, I had concluded that I absolutely _definitely_ needed to talk to Cat as soon as possible. In private this time. No matter how awkward it might be, we needed to sort this _thing _out. Although it would have been a lot easier if I had any idea what the _thing _was.

I mean, _we _didn't have a thing, of course. Cat was the one who kissed me. Twice. This was her problem, not mine. _I _didn't have a problem. Absolutely not. Cat was the one with the problem.

The ringing of the bell startled me back to reality. Tori and Beck were bowing and walking off of the stage after their acting exercise, and Sikowitz was waving at us to get out of his classroom. I stood up, searching the room for Cat. My heart sank as I spotted her empty chair, but then I noticed a flash of red hair out of the corner of my eye.

"Cat, wait!" I called after her, moving towards the door as fast as I could while still maintaining an air of composure. I burst out of the doorway in time to see her disappear around the corner into the foyer.

"CAT!" I screamed, forgetting all about remaining composed. I was seriously angry. This girl had the balls to kiss me not once, but _twice, _(not to mention once in front of our whole acting class) and now she didn't even have the decency to _talk_ to me about it?

I sprinted around the corner, barely managing to stay upright as I spotted Cat about a meter in front of me. I closed the distance between us and grabbed her around the waist, picking her up and throwing her over my shoulder. It wasn't hard, what with Cat being tiny and all.

"KIDNAPPING!" Cat screamed as she beat her fists against my back in a feeble attempt to escape. Nobody batted an eyelid; surprisingly, this wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence at Hollywood Arts High School.

I kicked open the door to the janitor's closet, shuddering as I remembered the scene that awaited me behind the door the last time I had kicked it open. I shook my head, clearing my mind of any thoughts about Beck: that boy was out of my life for good. I dropped Cat gently as I pushed the door shut behind me. She stumbled backwards into the cleaning supplies behind her, gripping onto the wall in an attempt to stay as far away from me as possible.

"Cat, what the fu-"

"Please don't hurt me!" She was covering her face with her hands and cowering against the wall in fear. My heart melted slightly as I looked into her eyes and saw only utter terror, coupled with tears threatening to flow over her eyelids.

"Cat?" I spoke softly, as if to a young child. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk."

She raised her head slowly, lowering her arms and relaxing slightly.

"Now why don't we start with you telling me why you kissed me?" I tried to ask her as calmly and softly as possible, ignoring the rage that had been bubbling inside me just a few moments ago.

"It w-was an acting exercise. I-I was _acting_." Cat stuttered, looking anywhere but my face.

"Not in class, Cat. Last night. At your sleepover, remember? We watched The Little Mermaid and then you k-kissed me." _I _was stuttering now, something about the whole situation made me feel…_strange_. My stomach felt as if I was constantly in free-fall, and my heart was beating faster than I knew was possible. I had never felt like this before, and it was making me feel uneasy.

"Oh…" Cat's cheeks were flushed hot crimson, and she was fiddling nervously with her sleeves in front of her. "W-well I-I…-"

"Are you gay?" I asked her bluntly.

"Wh-what?" Her widened eyes shot up to meet me accusingly. "What's that supposed to me-"

"You know _exactly _what that means, Cat." I cut her off before she had a chance to deflect my question. She averted her eyes and sighed wearily, her mouth forming a tight grimace and her expression hardening slightly.

"I…I don't know." She looked down at her shoes and took a nervous step towards me. "It's just, w-when I'm close to you I feel….warm. Peaceful. _Safe."_

I stared at her with my mouth agape, my heart threatening to burst out of my chest. She stepped closer again, her head still bowed.

"Last night, I felt the happiest I've felt in a long time." She raised her head to look into my eyes and took another step towards me. I closed my mouth and swallowed nervously.

"I lost c-control, and I'm sorry for that. But I don't regret kissing you."

The tips of our shoes were rubbing together again.

"I-I don't know why I feel this way, but I'm sick of denying it. I don't want to fight it anymore."

Cat drew in a shaky breath.

"We've been b-best friends for years, so I think that I should be able to b-be honest with you."

I could feel her breath on my lips.

"Jade, I-"

I pushed her away violently as I saw a camera flash out of the corner of my eye. I turned around in time to see a lock of bronze, curly hair pass by the door's window.

Sinjin.

That little fucking _creep._

I whipped the door open, shouting back at Cat to stay where she was. I spotted Sinjin trying to run up the stairs, but the kid never stood a chance. I sprinted to the staircase and grabbed his ankles, dragging him down the stairs on his stomach. I pulled him to the centre of the foyer and flipped him over onto his back, ignoring his pleading cries for mercy as I sat on his stomach.

"Give. Me. Your. _Phone_." I growled menacingly at him, my face inches away from his. He whimpered in reply before sliding his phone out of his pocket with shaky hands. I swiped the phone from him, scratching his hand in the process.

"J-Jade-"

"Shut it, Van-_queef ._" I sneered, opening up his photo app. My breath caught in my throat as the picture of Cat and I appeared on the screen. There we were. Our lips mere millimetres apart, and our eyes locked onto one another; passionate and wanting. I hastily deleted it before dropping the phone onto Sinjin's chest and standing up.

"There, I've made sure you can't upload that photo of us to your dumb blog. Now if you mention this to anyone, _anyone_ at all, I'll rip your dick off and shove it down your throat." He nodded in reply and I turned and walked away from him, satisfied that I'd dealt with the situation well enough.

"Jade!" I heard Sinjin desperately calling me from behind and spun around to face him.

"What?" I sighed.

"I'm so sor-"

"_Spit it out_."

"M-my phone has automatic u-uploads enabled." He backed away cautiously. I stepped slowly towards him. I could see people looking at me from the corner of my eye. Students all over the foyer were checking their phones and then glancing at me in shock. It was awfully reminiscent of the day Beck cheated on me with Trina.

"What?" I spat.

"That p-photo. Of y-you and C-Cat. It w-was automatically uploaded."

"_What?_" I repeated slowly. I felt sick, partially from anger and partially from overwhelming dread of what Sinjin would say next.

"It's already on The Slap. The whole s-school will have seen it by now."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys like this chapter, I'm lucky that I found enough time to write it. I'm going crazy with stress because of these exams, so I apologise if this chapter is terrible or if it makes no sense. It could be written in Portuguese for all I know: that's how crazy these exams are driving me. **

**Anyways, your reviews are the driving force behind this story, so please for god's sake don't take your hands off the wheel.**


	7. The Talk

**Disclaimer: Je ne possède pas Victorious.**

**A/N: I advise that you read this chapter slowly. Really take in every word, otherwise it doesn't have the intended effect.**

* * *

Sinjin sprinted away from me as quickly as his skinny legs could carry him. I didn't try to chase him, I was frozen in shock. I could feel judgemental eyes on me from all directions. People gave me dirty looks as they passed, and I could hear them whispering to each other maliciously.

"Hey look, it's Jade."

"What a dyke."

"Lesbo."

"Gay freak."

I ran back to the janitor's closet, choking back tears. I pulled the door shut behind me, collapsed onto the floor, and sobbed. My whole life was ruined. What would my parents say? What about my grandparents? My family, friends, and even my worst enemies had seen the picture. Everyone had seen that picture. _Everyone_. Now, because of that…that _stupid_ picture, that temporary lapse in judgement - that moment of weakness, they all knew what I had been denying for as long as I could remember.

**Jade West is **_**gay**_**.**

"Jade?"

My head shot up and I pushed myself back against the wall, away from where the voice had come from.

_Shit, I'd forgotten that Cat was still in here._

"Are you ok, Jade?" She stood over me looking concerned, her eyes red and puffy. She knelt down and placed her hand on my shoulder. "I heard about what happened with that p-picture."

"Don't touch me." I jerked away and attempted to growl at her, but it came out as more of a pathetic sob.

"Oh." She sat back and crossed her legs, her head bowed and her hands clasped in her lap. "Sorry."

We sat in silence for a while. I watched her crimson hair flow down from her head towards her tightly clasped hands. Her knuckles were white and I could see through her curtain of hair to tears sparkling on her cheek.

"Cat?" She raised her head at the sound of my voice, a glimmer of hope showing in her face. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. I'm just so…scared." My voice cracked on the last word. I would never have admitted that to anyone else. Cat was the only one who had ever seen me this vulnerable. She had a way of getting to me, gently forcing me to let her in instead of shut her off like I did to everyone else.

"It's okay." She smiled, her voice soft and quiet. "I'm scared too. Scared of what people will think, scared of what they'll say, and…" She trailed off and a single tear rolled down her face.

"And what?"

"Scared of what this means for us."

My breath caught in my throat. _Us._

"There _is_ no us." I attempted to sound firm, but it came out rather uncertainly.

"But…" Cat looked utterly distraught. "We almost kissed like 10 minutes ago! We've already kissed twice. Please, Jade. I'm so confused."

"Me too." I muttered, my head in my hands.

Cat moved closer to me and took my hands away from my face, forcing me to look her in the eye. She looked determined, fed up of waiting.

"Do you have feelings for me?" She asked simply.

I froze, terrified, and instinctively shot back an answer.

"No."

She moved even closer.

"Look me in the eye, Jade, and tell me the truth. Please."

Something about her pleading eyes changed something in me. I finally gave up. I gave up on hiding, on lying, on pretending to be someone I'm not. I was so tired of hiding who I was to suite everyone else. In that moment, I dropped my act. I was done lying.

"Yes, I do."

I immediately felt her lips on mine, gentle and soothing. She lingered before breaking off the kiss and moving to sit beside me. We sat quietly with our backs to the wall. My hand tingled as Cat gently took it in hers, smoothing it softly with her thumb. The atmosphere was serene and comforting. I felt as if I had just gotten a huge weight off of my shoulders, as if I had been dragging around a ten tonne boulder for years and Cat had just finally cut the chain.

She broke the silence.

"So what are we now?" She almost whispered, not wanting to ruin the calm that had settled on us following my long awaited admittance of feelings for her.

"I don't know." I mused.

"Are we…girlfriends?" She sounded nervous.

I gazed at her, taking in her beautiful red velvet hair, her soft skin, her innocent eyes. I looked back at our memories together, from being best friends to kissing in her house that night. I thought about the way she made me feel, how safe and warm I felt when I was around her. I looked at the way she looked at me, and then I knew the answer.

"If that's okay with you." I smiled.

She didn't answer, she merely crashed her lips into mine, swivelling her body around so she was sitting on my lap. She ran her fingers through her hair as she kissed me passionately. My heart melted as I felt her smile into the kiss. She slid her hand from my face down to my waist, caressing the outline of my body. I grinned, slowly trailing my hand down her lower back and to her-

The bell rang.

We both pulled away reluctantly and stood up.

"We missed lunch!" Cat cried, looking genuinely distressed. I laughed and took her into my arms again, kissing her one last time.

"I'd rather not go out there anyway, I don't want to see anyone at the moment." Being with Cat had made me forget all about the picture, but now I was going to have to go out and face this problem head on.

"We're in this together." Cat took my hand. "We can help each other through this, no matter what happens. We're Cat and Jade, super girlfriends!" She struck a goofy superhero pose, making me laugh again.

"Yeah, we'll be fine." I grinned at Cat, my _girlfriend _Cat, and I felt happier than I had in a long time.

* * *

**A/N: Woohoo! They're together at last! **

**Sorry that I've been gone for like a month, I've been incredibly busy and I have had _no _time to write. Fortunately, all of my exams are over now so I will have plenty of time to write!**

**This chapter's a bit short, but I'm planning on writing another one tomorrow. Hopefully that will make up for it.**

**Please review! Take the time to tell me what you think so that I can improve for next time. Your reviews honestly make me so happy it's kind of silly. :)**


	8. The Meal at Nozu: Part 1

**Disclaimer: Victorious own don't I.**

**A/N: This is another small chapter, but it's a two part one. Read it slowly!**

* * *

I jerked my hand away from Cat's as we walked out of the janitor's closet, earning myself an accusing look from her.

"I'm sorry, Cat." I said to her under my breath. "I'm just scared about what's going to happen when people find out."

"Oh." She frowned slightly and widened the gap between us slightly as we walked. "Me too. But we have to tell people, right?"

"Yeah, I don't want to hide anything anymore." I looked over at Cat. She was walking with her head down and her arms folded. The sight of her looking so vulnerable melted my heart; I couldn't distance myself from her when she needed me most. I closed the gap between us and entwined my fingers with hers, gripping her hand firmly. She relaxed slightly and smiled, squeezing my hand happily. I pulled her in closer and kissed the top of her head, ignoring the stares from people around us.

"We'll be fine." I whispered to Cat, smiling encouragingly. She giggled in reply and rested her head on my shoulder. I immediately felt safer.

"Hey, are we still going to Nozu with everyone after school?" Cat asked, tilting her head up to look at me. I smiled at her use of "we". It sounded nice.

"I think so." I thought for a moment. I'd forgotten that we were supposed to have sushi with Tori, Beck, André, Robbie, and Trina (who had invited herself along) after school. I weighed up the pros and cons before deciding that it would ultimately be a good opportunity to have the inevitable talk with them about mine and Cat's relationship.

"Kay kay! I've got to go to cosmetics class so I'll see you in the car park after school." She kissed me lightly on the lips before bouncing off. I smiled as I watched her leave, taking in her uplifting optimism one more time before heading off to my next class.

* * *

The rest of the school day felt like an eternity. I couldn't concentrate at all in class as there was only one thing on my mind.

**Cat.**

Her hair, her eyes, her smile, her laugh. The way she seemed to skip everywhere, and the way she giggled constantly. The way she put her whole being into everything that she did, and the way she looked at me with complete trust and loyalty. The way she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever met and yet chose me, of all people, to be with. The whole thing made me dizzy enough to not notice the stares, and the whispered insults. The judging looks and malicious words passed over me as I floated through my day, completely, euphorically happy. Nothing could hurt me because at the end of the day, I knew _she_ would be there waiting for me.

**Caterina Valentine.**

The sound of the school bell startled me out of my daydream. I packed my things at a record speed and was out of the classroom before my teacher could even dismiss us. I walked through the school with a mixture of nerves and excitement tying my stomach in a knot. I was unbelievably excited to see Cat again, but I was also dreading meeting with everyone in Nozu. The whole "coming-out" thing was new to me, and it was incredibly intimidating.

I burst out of the door of the school and immediately scanned the car park for Cat. My heart jumped slightly as I spotted her, leaning casually against my car. I took a moment to admire the way her skin glistened in the sunlight before making my way over to her. She lifted her head as she noticed me, and her whole body seemed to perk up. She bounded towards me and wrapped me in her enthusiastic arms. I smiled and pulled her close to me.

"I missed you." Cat mumbled into my neck.

"It's only been two hours." I laughed. We'd been dating for two hours and I already felt completely comfortable and at ease with her. It didn't feel weird, or wrong. It just felt _right._

"Come on then!" Cat hopped backwards from me. "Let's go to Nozu."

* * *

Everyone was already sitting when we arrived, which was kind of impressive since Cat and I were among the first to leave school. Cat took my hand as we walked towards the table. I looked down at her and smiled.

_Everything is going to be okay._

Our friends looked up in unison as we arrived at the table. I watched each of their expressions change to shock as their eyes reached our hands. Beck was staring straight ahead with a steely expression on his face and his hands curled into fists. I ignored their stares and sat down. Cat followed.

"Hi guys." I put on my most enthusiastic smile and picked up a menu. "So what are you all ordering?"

"The Spicy Tun-"André began.

"Cut the crap, _Jade_." Beck interrupted angrily, slamming his fists on the table and causing Cat to jump out of her skin with a squeak. I clenched my fist under the table. "Tell us what the fuck is going on with you and Cat."

"I think I'll have the Unagi Surprise." I said, keeping my eyes on the menu and blanking Beck completely, knowing that this was what he hated most.

"JADE!" He was going red, and I could see the veins popping out of his arms. Everyone was staring at him in shock. I was the only one who had ever seen Beck lose his cool like this, so I remained calm.

"I don't know though, what are you going to have, Cat?" Cat simply looked up at me and gripped my hand tighter. Her face was white and her eyes were wide with fear. I hated Beck for making her feel like this, but I had to act like he wasn't even there.

"Fine." Beck gritted his teeth and stood up. "Ignore me. We all know that you and Cat are dirty, ganky little _dykes_." I winced at the last word. Beck kicked his chair over and stormed out of the restaurant. I could feel tears pricking at my eyes, and I could hear Cat desperately trying to supress her sobs.

"I h-have to go to th-the bathroom." Cat ran from the table, tears streaming from her face.

And so I sat at the restaurant table, a crying girlfriend on one side of me and a sea of judgemental faces on the other.

_Fuck._

* * *

**A/N: I decided to make this a two part chapter for some reason. I hope you don't mind!**_  
_

**Beck's being a jerk again, but he _did_ just find out (well, guess) that his ex-girlfriend is a lesbian. That must be pretty awkward.**

**Hope you liked it! Please review, your opinions mean the world to me. :)**


	9. The Meal at Nozu: Part 2

**Disclaimer:s are stupid**.

* * *

I looked across the table at my remaining friends. Tori, Trina, André, and Robbie stared back at me, eyes wide open in shock. Tori opened and shut her mouth like a goldfish before finally managing to speak.

"J-Jade, what was that all about?"

I remained silent for once, directing my gaze towards the floor.

"Are you and Cat…" She trailed off, squirming uncomfortably before attempting to ask the question again.

"Are you dating Cat?"

Now it was my turn to writhe uncomfortably in my seat. My heart thundered in my chest and my stomach churned nervously. Everyone pretty much already knew the answer thanks to Sinjin's camerawork, but they needed confirmation before they actually believed it, as most people seem to find a person turning out to be gay so unbelievable that they'd much sooner believe a convenient lie.

Even though Cat and I had only been dating for a few hours, truthfully, our relationship had been more than platonic for a while beforehand. We had always been closer to each other than any other girls were, but we had never talked about the nature of our relationship until our first kiss. If I told Tori the truth now, I wasn't just admitting that we had just started dating; it was a lot more than that. Of course I was terrified of what would happen once people found out that I was gay, of what would happen to sweet little Cat, but I knew that I couldn't lie about her. I could lie about a lot of things, but the way I felt about Cat was not something I could keep bottled up inside.

I kept my head down as I breathed my answer.

"Yes."

After a few moments of silence, I looked up and found myself looking into Tori's confused eyes. I immediately averted my gaze and looked around the table from face to face, gauging my friend's reactions to see exactly how deeply in shit I was.

Trina looked utterly disinterested, picking at her nails and inconspicuously flicking bits of them away from the table. André was calm and level-headed as always, giving me a friendly smile. Robbie, on the other hand, simply stared at the table, expressionless. His eyes met mine for a brief second and I could almost _feel_ a mixture of hurt and anger directed towards me.

"Oh." Tori glanced at me nervously before looking away and clearing her throat. "W-well I'd just like you to know that even though we've had our, um, _differences, _that I will, uh, fully support you and Cat in your relationship. The fact that you are a, uh, l-lesbian doesn't change the fact that I consider you to be my friend."

"Thanks, Vega." I replied, smiling slightly. _That's cute, she thinks I'm her friend._

Nevertheless, I was grateful for her support.

"Jade, you know this makes no difference to me. You're still the same person you were before you decided to share this with us, so I'm here for you if you need anything." André spoke sincerely, smiling comfortingly. I couldn't help but smile back, knowing that I had at least one true friend that would be there for me.

Silence fell over the group again, and my smile faltered. I looked over to Trina to find her texting, seemingly oblivious. Tori nudged her.

"Is there anything you'd like to say, Trina?"

"About what?" Trina replied, her eyes remaining fixated on her phone.

"Jade being gay and dating Cat."

"More guys for me." Trina muttered indifferently.

Tori laughed nervously, trying to lighten the mood, and inevitably failing. The table fell into uncomfortable silence once more. I looked over to Robbie again. He hadn't moved.

"Robbie?" I called to him.

He slowly turned to face me and shot me a glare that would shame Medusa, although it was less menacing than intended due to the tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. Of course I didn't _actually _care, but he looked sort of… _unstable_.

He remained silent, simply lowering his head and putting his face in his hands.

_Alright, fuck you then._

"I'd better check on Cat." I said, getting up to go and join her in the bathroom. Robbie visibly flinched when I mentioned Cat's name.

* * *

The bathroom was seemingly empty when I walked in, save for one closed stall door. The quiet sobbing and sniffling coming from behind it broke my heart.

"Cat?" I called out softly.

The sobbing stopped.

"Don't worry, it's just me." I stepped further into the bathroom towards the stall door.

The door slowly crept open as I got closer, until Cat tentatively edged out of the stall, her eyes red and puffy and her cheeks wet with tears. She looked miserably helpless. The sight of her in this condition filled me with both rage and sadness; I couldn't believe that someone could make a girl as harmless as Cat feel this way.

"Jadey…" Cat's voice cracked.

I immediately wrapped her up in my arms and pulled her in as close to me as possible, not giving her a chance to say another word. I held her like this, keeping her as close as possible, until she finally stopped crying.

My shirt was soaked through by the time she was finished.

I pushed her away gently before taking her face in my hand and kissing her softly. I slid my hands down to hers and entwined our fingers as I pulled away from the kiss. Her eyes met mine and a flicker of a smile passed across her lips.

"We'll be fine, Cat." I encouraged her. "Beck is gone, and I won't let him hurt you. He's just upset because he wants me back, and now he knows that he can never have me. Don't let him get to you. I told everyone else and they were supportive, so we have nothing to worry about."

"So Tori wasn't freaked out?" Cat asked, smiling slightly as she started to cheer up.

"Nope, she completely supports our relationship."

"Trina?"

"Is happy now that she has less competition."

"André?"

"Will always be there for us."

"Robbie?"

I remained silent and averted my eyes.

"Oh…" Cat looked crestfallen. Robbie was one of her best friends.

"I'm sorry." I took her in my arms again. "I'm sure he'll come around, he's just in shock right now."

Cat pulled away from me suddenly.

"Come on." She grabbed my hand. "We should go talk to him."

"I don't know if that's such a good ide-"

"Jade, I have to." Cat said firmly, dragging me out of the door after her.

* * *

"Robbie?"

Everyone looked up as we approached the table. Even Robbie lifted his head at the sound of Cat's voice, his eyes puffy and red.

"Cat." Robbie's voice sounded overwhelmingly sad and pathetic. It was barely strong enough to hear.

"Robbie, I know you're sad, but please try to understand." Cat pleaded with him. "Me and Jade-"

"_Think_ you're lesbians, I know." Robbie stood up. "Look Jade, you may be gay, but I know Cat and she is not gay. I mean look at her, she's far too pretty to be a lesbi-."

"Woah, hold on a second there-" I started, letting go of Cat's hand and taking a step towards Robbie. I could feel a fiery rage starting to build up inside me.

"No, how about _you_ hold on a second, _Jade._" Robbie seethed as he stepped towards me. "Cat and I were doing just fine until _you_ filled her head with this **nonsense**. She was perfectly normal until she started hanging out with you."

I curled my hands into fists and was fully ready to punch the little shit in the mouth when Cat intervened, stepping in between us.

"Stop, _please._" She looked desperately at Robbie. He stared at her for a few seconds before sighing and moving uncomfortably close to her.

"Cat, please. You can't be with Jade, I _love _you." He took her face roughly in his hands, and forcefully pressed his lips against hers.

The rage that had been bubbling up inside me spilled over.

"GET THE **FUCK **OFF OF MY GIRLFRIEND." I yelled as I pulled him off of her and pushed him hard enough for him to fall backwards over the table.

The only thing that stopped me from inflicting further damage was the restaurant staff. I noticed some servers walking towards us and decided that now would be a good time to leave.

"Come on Cat, let's get out of here." I grabbed her hand and we both ran towards the door.

"CATERINA VALENTINE." I heard Robbie shout from behind us. Cat flinched and slowed slightly. "IF YOU WALK OUT THAT DOOR, **THIS IS IT FOR US**"

I looked over to Cat. There were tears streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't even look back. Not once.

I took some solace in that fact. Even with Robbie threatening to cut her off, she still chose me. Not Robbie. Me.

She chose _me._

* * *

We burst through the door into the parking lot but didn't stop running until we got to my car.

Cat stood beside my car and frantically wiped tears from her eyes, sobbing hysterically.

"Jade." She blubbered. "I'm so s-sorry…he kissed m-me. I didn't want him to, b-but he kissed me. It hurt, Jade. He hit m-my teeth…I didn't like it. I'm so sorry."

I felt the angriest I had ever felt in my life. Both Beck _and _Robbie had caused Cat to break down into tears in the same night. Cat was the most fragile person I knew, and yet they were so careless with her. They shattered her with their hurtful words and left _me _to pick up the pieces.

I took Cat in my arms once again.

"Shh, don't worry. We won't be seeing either Beck or Robbie for a long time. I won't let them hurt you again, okay?" I spoke softly to her.

"I'm okay." Cat sniffled, pulling away from me. "It's just… tonight was a lot to handle. Coming out of the closet and then Beck and Robbie shouting at me and Robbie kissing me..."

"I'm sorry about your friendship with Robbie, I know you were good friends." I said _almost _sincerely. To be honest, I was kind of glad to get rid of him as I was never going to be comfortable with him anywhere near Cat.

"I don't care, _**fuck**_ Robbie." Cat swore, causing me to almost fall over in shock. I never expected to hear that word come out of sweet little Cat's mouth. Cat seemed to be shocked too, as she covered her mouth and actually giggled a little.

"You know, after all that…" She looked up at me, looking concerned again.

"What?"

"We didn't even get to have food!"

I smiled, briefly pressing my lips to hers.

"Don't you worry about that, baby girl. We'll sort something out."

* * *

**A/N: I'm so sorry that I've been away for so long! I was on holiday for a month and then I slipped into the Summer "I don't want to do anything apart from lie around and play video games" attitude. _Then _I didn't get the mark I expected on my English, reread my fanfiction, and ultimately decided that I am a terrible writer and should just stop writing.**

**Then I decided that none of that mattered and that I should just do whatever makes me happy.**

**Also, I think this is my longest chapter yet.**

**By the way, I should clarify that the Cat in my story is based on season 1 Cat, before she changed her style and started acting kind of like a toddler. You can imagine her to be any way you like, but that's the way I'm writing her to be.**

**Anyways, please review. I'm not sure if anyone actually enjoys reading this, so please please _please _let me know if you do. It could mean the difference between me giving up or writing the rest of the chapters and finishing this fanfiction.**


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